Drunken Affogato (Ice Cream Shots) Recipe

Affogato, Italian for “drown,” is a description normally reserved for ice cream doused in espresso. Here we take that same principle and swap out the espresso for alcohol to create an adult version of ice cream floats where the variations are endless—try butter pecan with amaretto or chocolate chip with Chambord. Serve them in small glasses, demitasses, cordial glasses, or shot glasses.

Game plan: To avoid scooping ice cream while your guests are there, use this catering trick: Scoop the ice cream onto a small, parchment-lined baking sheet, then place in the freezer until it’s time to assemble the affogato.

Try toasting the nuts for a few minutes before adding them to the shots.

In a bowl, mix the wafers, sugar, almond paste, liqueurs, and corn syrup
Make sure the almond paste is well blended with the other ingredients
Press mixture into shallow pie plate and refrigerate until firm enough to form into balls
This should take 20 minutes or so
Melt chocolate in a double boiler over gently simmering water
Roll mixture into small ball, impale each on a toothpick and dip into the melted chocolate, coating evenly
Roll gently in toasted almonds then place on large trays to harden
Store in airtight container in refrigerator or shelf
Serve at room temperature.

Preheat over as directed. Spread the cake batter in a greased and floured 11”x13” pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and invert on a cooling rack until completely cool.

Ganache

1 cup heavy cream

1 12 oz bag dark chocolate chips (2 cups of chocolate chips)

Heat the cream on the stove, or in microwave, until hot but not boiling. Pour in the chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate has fully melted and the mixture is thick and glossy. Set aside.

Filling

1 5.1 oz box vanilla pudding mix (the cook and serve variety)

1 envelope Knox gelatin (2 tsp gelatin powder)

1 ½ cups heavy cream or half and half

1 cup vanilla vodka

Combine pudding mix and gelatin in saucepan on stove. Pour in the cream, allow to soak for a minute or two. Cook the mixture per directions on the package (i.e. bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, cook for 5 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Mix in the vodka, a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring fully to incorporate. Refrigerate until the mixture thickens (about 30 minutes). Remove from refrigerator, stir fully.

Level the cake with a long serrated knife. Next, cut the cake into 1 1/2 or 2 inch rounds with a biscuit or cookie cutter. Split each cake round in half.

Drop about a tablespoon of the filling on each bottom layer, replace the top layer. Place the filled rounds on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet (this will catch any drips from the ganache.) Refrigerate the filled rounds for about 20 minutes until the cake feels slightly chilled.

Preparation

With an electric mixer beat soft butter with the powdered sugar until creamy and fluffy. Beat in the rum and vanilla.

Crumble the cake and 3/4 of the frosting. You might need more frosting to hold cake together to make the ball. Use frosting as needed to form a ball that does not crumble.

Once you’ve rolled all the balls place them in the freezer on a cookie sheet to firm them up. You can also store the formed cakeballs in the freezer in a zip lock bag for about a week before dipping in chocolate. That’s what I did and it worked out just fine.

Take the cakeballs out of the freezer about 5 minutes before you plan to dip them. If they are frozen when you dip them in the warm chocolate or candy melts the candy coating will crack from the change of temperatures.

Once your ready to dip your cake balls in chocolate you need to melt the chocolate. You can use Wilton Candy Melts or a bag of chocolate chips. Place 3/4 of the bag of candy melts or the entire 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water.

Make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Now here is the trick and secret ingredient to getting the chocolate to the perfect consistency to dip the cake balls in it.

Solid Crisco

Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of solid shortening to the candy melts or chocolate chips. Stir as the chocolate begins to melt. Once the chocolate and Crisco has melted completely check to see if you have the correct consistency. You want it runny enough so that it will drip just a bit from your cake balls after you dip them so they have a smooth coating on the cake balls.

If you melted the chocolate/candy melts in a large bowl transfer some of the melted chocolate coating to a small bowl that will be deep enough that you can plunge the entire cakeball in up to the stick. Twirl it carefully to get the coating on the entire cakeball and the area where the lolli pop stick is inserted into the cake ball. Decorate with sprinkles immediately after dipping each pop.

You can stand the cakeball pops up in a block of styrofoam until the chocolate is completely hardened. I stuck the dipped cakeball pops in the freezer for a few minutes as I made them. Don’t leave them in there more then five minutes. If you do they will get a layer of condensation on them.